Flyers' Holmgren may be looking at Leighton's deal

Philadelphia Flyers goalie Michael Leighton, right, reaches for a shot as New York Islanders' Jon Sim ducks out of the way in the third period of an NHL hockey game, Tuesday, March 9, 2010, in Philadelphia. Philadelphia won 3-2. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

PHILADELPHIA - There's been a lot of speculation about the Flyers' future in goal beyond this season. An answer may be forthcoming sooner rather than later.

Michael Leighton's agent, Mike Liut, has been in the Philadelphia area for several days and likely will talk to general manager Paul Holmgren about a contract extension for his client this week, a Flyers source confirmed to the Daily Times.

While there is no guarantee that anything will be signed this week, it's a good bet ideas will be exchanged.

According to the source, the Flyers would like to have Leighton back - possibly on a two-year deal - if the salary figure is reasonable.

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Leighton makes $600,000 this season, but the Flyers are only on the hook for $300,000 after claiming him off of re-entry waivers from the Carolina Hurricanes. Carolina is paying him the other half of his salary.

Leighton, 28, has been tremendous for the Flyers this season, and entered play Thursday with a record of 17-5-2 with a 2.46 GAA.

As such, Leighton will likely expect, and deservedly so, a nice raise next season after surviving a near shipping to the top of the scrap heap.

As long as he's willing to be reasonable with his contract demands, the Flyers should certainly consider bringing him back, and would like to on a multi-year deal.

But if Leighton takes the Marty Biron route and prices himself out of his talent level, he can find himself right back where he was before the Flyers salvaged his career.

With a dearth of affordable and experienced goaltending available on the free agent market next season - affordable is the operative word - the Flyers could do worse than Leighton, who was 7-0-1 in his last nine starts before facing Boston.

The only NHL-tested goalie the Flyers have locked up for next season is Brian Boucher, who is making $925,000 and can't seem to earn a start from coach Peter Laviolette.

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Holmgren was back in Philadelphia Thursday after spending a few days in Boca Raton, Fla. at the annual March NHL general managers meeting. In what was, in many ways, a historic meeting, the G.M.s agreed to offer a proposal to be reviewed by the competition committee and the NHL Players Association that would penalize and possibly suspend players for blows to the head of an opposing player.

"Unfortunately, in our sport everybody would like the black and white because of the speed of the game and the physicality of the game," Holmgren said. "I don't know if we could get away from some gray areas. There's going to be some. That's just the way it is. But I think when we get down, if we could get this thing through, the timeline and then get to training camp next year obviously we will have to sit down with our players and I think the league will come out with some kind of video tape showing pretty much what the do's and dont's are."

Holmgren admitted that under the new proposal, the hit Mike Richards put on Florida Panthers winger David Booth earlier this season would be a penalty, likely a major penalty, and would probably bring a suspension.

"That's a critical area of the game now, that area of the ice, because of the way when teams attack the zone... a lot of the time the puck is thrown to the middle of the ice and you have forwards coming back," Holmgren said. "Coaches preach back pressure so you have players coming back and you know the puck carrier is looking toward the offensive zone and he can see what's in front of him, but not necessarily what's behind him. If Mike (Richards) is faced with that situation next year, if this goes through; we aren't saying that he can't hit that guy. You just have to make sure it's more of a body shot than anywhere near the head."

Holmgren said the players will have to adjust and hold themselves accountable for the way they play in the middle of the ice.

"I hate to use Mike as in example again but a player in that situation (the blame is) probably going to fall on that guy that's coming in to make the hit."